Scotland's Museum of Industrial Life
Summerlee is set in 22 acres based around the site of the nineteenth century Summerlee Ironworks.
The museum has many attractions for all the family, including Scotland's only operational heritage tramway and recreated mine, with guided tours, miners' cottages, a great all-ages playpark and lots lots more.
Admission is free.
And there's a great 'family tram ticket' deal for spring 2012 on the VisitLanarkshire home page too - check under 'offers'.
Just print off your voucher and present it at the Summerlee shop for your discounted tickets. Please note that the discount is not available on Easter Sunday and Monday.
Summerlee's Great Facilities
The great facilities at Summerlee include:
- Superb all-weather exhibition hall with working machinery
- Electric tramway with heritage trams
- Underground mine (Guided tours) and miners' cottages from 1840 to 1960
- Great playpark for tots to teens
- Café and shop.
- Free parking.
A Brief History of Summerlee
Summerlee was formerly one of Scotland's most important ironworks and the remains of its blast furnaces and other buildings can be seen from the view pod and parapet at the north-east side of the main exhibition hall.
Opened in 1836, it used the newly discovered 'hot blast' process. This was a process, patented by James Beaumont Neilson (the younger brother of Summerlee's founder John Neilson), that blew the hot gases of the production process through the furnaces. This resulted in much more iron being produced for the same amount of coal.
This made the smelting process much more efficient and led to Coatbridge becoming known as the 'Iron Burgh' of Scotland by the 1850s. However, the rise of the steel industry in the later part of the 19th Century saw iron's decline.
Although heavy industry continued in Coatbridge for many years, strikes and economic depression in the 1920s saw Summerlee's furnaces go out for the last time in 1926. In the late 1930s, the site was demolished and the remains of the ironworks were covered over.
Post-war, light engineering companies operated on the site, the last being the Hydrocon Crane Company, whose engineering shed forms today's main exhibition hall - complete with overhead cranes still in place!
The museum you see today was initially opened in 1987 and many attractions such as the tramway, mine, miners' cottages and playpark have been added since.
The latest change has been to the main exhibition hall, now totally redeveloped thanks to a major Heritage Lottery Fund supported project.
Why not go for a swim or stretch your legs following your visit to Summerlee? The ever popular The Time Capsule and Drumpellier Park are located nearby.